{"id":351300,"date":"2026-09-19T20:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351300\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T20:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:52:12","slug":"queen-shares-her-love-of-reading-amid-the-royal-fallout-from-earl-spencers-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351300\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen shares her love of reading amid the royal fallout from Earl Spencer\u2019s book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Addressing an audience in Derbyshire, The Queen described literature as possessing a “life-enhancing power”, appearing publicly following recent allegations directed at the King in serialized extracts from Earl Spencer’s new book regarding Diana, Princess of Wales.<\/p>\n

Camilla was greeted with applause as she arrived at Chatsworth House for the opening day of a weekend festival organized by The Queen’s Reading Room, the charity she established after launching an Instagram book club during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Taking place across Saturday and Sunday at the Grade I listed Peak District estate, the event marks the charity’s fourth festival.<\/p>\n

She was received by Lord William Burlington, chairman of The Chatsworth House Trust, who expressed that partnering with the initiative for two consecutive years was “a huge thrill”.<\/p>\n

Speaking inside the Painted Hall of the estate, which houses a collection exceeding 17,000 volumes, Camilla remarked that visiting Chatsworth felt “like coming home”.<\/p>\n

Addressing attendees, she said: “I created my Reading Room simply because, like all of us here, I love books and their life-enhancing power and I want to share that love with others.<\/p>\n

\"Queen<\/p>\n

Queen Camilla during The Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Chatsworth House ((Aaron Chown\/PA))<\/p>\n

“In those early days, I had no idea if anybody would be interested but six years on, we are a global community of millions from over 180 countries, swapping recommendations, undertaking research and donating thousands of books to women’s refuges and homeless shelters.”<\/p>\n

Highlighting the historical significance of the location, she added: “There could hardly be a more fitting location for a literary festival than Chatsworth, a house that has inspired and hosted countless authors, including Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell and William Makepeace Thackeray, among many others.<\/p>\n

“Future generations will, no doubt, boast of the day when William Boyd, Elif Shafak, Robert Harris and Kate Mosse were guests here too.”<\/p>\n

The event follows critical claims made against the King by Earl Spencer in a memoir about his late sister Diana, which drew an “unprecedented” statement from Buckingham Palace stating that “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.<\/p>\n

\"(Getty)\"<\/p>\n

In Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Earl Spencer asserts that the King appeared “giddily elated\u2026 like a lottery winner” during a telephone conversation following the princess’s death.<\/p>\n

The book further alleges that Charles exhibited a “stream of anger” when the earl argued that Princes William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 at the time, should not walk behind their mother’s funeral procession.<\/p>\n

Speaking in a BBC interview clip broadcast on Friday, Earl Spencer maintained he is “telling the truth” while branding the King’s remarks regarding his sister as “monstrous”.<\/p>\n

Dressed in blue, the Queen met with members representing four regional reading groups, including the Elm Foundation, an organisation supporting individuals impacted by domestic abuse.<\/p>\n

During the event, she announced her four autumn book selections: Finding Belle by Reeta Chakrabarti, The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Whistler by Ann Patchett, and Sashenka by Simon Sebag Montefiore.<\/p>\n

News presenter Chakrabarti, present for the announcement, expressed her gratitude to the Queen, stating: “Well, I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much for choosing it, and I’m going to read the others.”<\/p>\n

\"(Getty)\"<\/p>\n

Praising Chakrabarti’s debut work, Camilla observed: “It’s a very good book, I highly recommend it to everybody.”<\/p>\n

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, serving as a charity trustee, stated: “Millions of people around the world are now reading books recommended by Her Majesty and people she’s invited to help her choose books.”<\/p>\n

Following her remarks in the Painted Hall, the Queen attended a recital of William Sieghart’s The Poetry Pharmacy, featuring readings by actor Natascha McElhone, whose screen credits include The Truman Show, Ronin, and Solaris.<\/p>\n

The visit concluded in the Sculpture Gallery, where The Queen met participating authors at a reception, including Jack Reacher creator Lee Child and Turkish-British author Elif Shafak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Addressing an audience in Derbyshire, The Queen described literature as possessing a “life-enhancing power”, appearing publicly following recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49124,23713,74760,34641,131225,131229,131231,9,24,63,131228,34642,122,124,123,131230,131227,131226],"class_list":["post-351300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-camilla","tag-charles-dickens","tag-chatsworth-house","tag-diana","tag-earl-spencer","tag-elif-shafak","tag-lord-william","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-painted-hall","tag-princess-of-wales","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-reeta-chakrabarti","tag-william-boyd","tag-william-makepeace-thackeray"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}